1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? I went on a cruise.  I flew across the country with two children.  I knit dozens up on dozens of adorable garments.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Yeah… about that… I set some very reasonable goals and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t do a very good job at keeping up with them.  Okay… so we did get a little landscaping done and the kitchen light fixed.  But the windows are still busted and the fence is even more kaput than it was last year.  As far as getting into shape?  NOPE.  I could possibly be in WORSE shape.  But, I do at least have a plan for that. And, given the holidays, I think I’ve done a very good job at not going overboard with the bad eating.  So go me.  Maybe I did better than I thought!  Because I have let go of the past.  Or at least, made significant progress in that direction.  I don’t know if our lives are simpler, but I like the things we’ve done, for the most part.  It’s a good thing I didn’t make a resolution about being happier.  Cuz I would have totally bombed that one.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Hmm.  Do my message board buddies count?  I say yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die? – My best friend’s mother died and that sucked BIG TIME.  A lot of people died this year that just generally cheesed me off because of the unfairness of it all.

5. What countries did you visit? BAHAMAS! 

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? Happiness.  Contentment.  Well-being.  I don’t think this is a lot that I’m asking for here.  Oh and maybe some more yarn.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? August 5-14.  Best. Week. Ever.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My knitting biz.  While I don’t think I necessarily qualify as a raging success or anything, I’ve done some great things with it.  Everything I’ve accomplished so far is just incredible to me.  I never thought I’d be this good at knitting.

9. What was your biggest failure? Hmm.  There were many, sadly.  Myself, would be the biggest answer.  I failed myself in huge, awful and horrific ways.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I had the flu a week or so ago.  That pretty much sucked.  But for the most part, we’ve been a healthy crew.  Nothing to sneeze at, considering H1N1 and all that.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Macbook.  I’d say iPhone but that was a 2008 purchase.  Still, it’s so good it could easily span several years.  But yeah.  The  Macbook is awesome.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Not me.  There have been many who have inspired me, and even made me wish I could be one third like them.  Heather Spohr comes to mind.  Among many, many others.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Yeah, this one is me.  I’ve been awful, awful, awful this year.  AWFUL.  Words can’t describe.  Total backslide.

14. Where did most of your money go? Yarn.  Diapers.  Disney.  You know, the important stuff.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? DISNEY.  OMG, that was the best vacation ever in the history of vacations.  I wanna go again.  Like, tomorrow.  That would be so awesome.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009? - there are a few, actually.  Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA”, “What Time is It” from the HSM2 soundtrack (will ALWAYS make me think of Disney World), Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow”.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? - SADDER
b) thinner or fatter? - thinner, I hope
c) richer or poorer? - richer

Sheesh, you’d think I’d be happier.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? – exercise, take care of myself

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? – yelling

20. How did you spend Christmas? - Here.  At home.  With the fam.  Whoop.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009? - Yes, with my children.  Watching them become PEOPLE is so incredible and humbling.

22. What was your favorite TV program? - Lost.  True Blood.  V.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? - Thank goodness no.

24. What was the best book you read? – Woe… I did not read many books this year.  I feel shame.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? - Radio Disney fare.  Here is where I hang my head in shame.  But honest to god, I am a total Disney music FAN.

26. What did you want and get? Interchangeable needle set, Disney World sweatshirt.

27. What did you want and not get? Yarn dyes.  Yarn.  Knitting books. To get to move away from here.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? - There were a few good ones, I think.  I really enjoyed “District 9″ and “Inglourious Basterds”.  “New Moon” was also a lot better than I was expecting.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? - I turned 34.  It was a nice day but nothing out of the ordinary.  It’s hard to get too excited once the years start piling on!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? - More time to get stuff done. Medication.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009? - pajama chic

32. What kept you sane? - my message board buddies, knitting.  Yes, the thing that threatened my sanity also saved it.  Go figure.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? – This is actually rather hard to think up.  I mean, I like a bunch of celebrities, but I’m just not sure that I liked any one enough to say I “fancied” them, you know?

34. What political issue stirred you the most? - Health Care.  I continue to be stunned and horrified that there are people who don’t value human life enough to really want to make a change.

35. Who did you miss? - my best friends from high school.  I could have used them this year.

36. Who was the best new person you met? - I met a few gals from my message board and that was totally and completely awesome.  I want to meet more.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009. - I don’t think I learned anything terribly valuable.  I mostly just spun my wheels this year.  Got nowhere fast.  Maybe I learned to KNOCK THAT OFF.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I shamelessly stole this from Randi because a) it’s 3:20 and I haven’t posted yet and b) I don’t have anything I particularly want to post about except mindless blatherings and I’d really rather save that for Friday and c) it’s a clever meme and I’ve never been known to resist clever memes. 

Da Rules
1.Go to www.photobucket.com (don’t sign in).
2. Type in your answer to the question in the “search” box.
3. Copy the html and paste for the answer.

1. What is your relationship status?

2. What is your favorite color?

3. Who is your celebrity crush?

4. What will you be doing tomorrow?

!!!!

5. What is your favorite Disney princess?

6. What would you splurge on if you won the lottery?

7. What was the last thing you bought?

8. Where is your dream vacation?

9. What cell phone do you have?

10. What do you want to be when you grow up?

11. What do you love most in life?

12. What is your favorite food?

13. What is your least favorite food?

14. What is your favorite dessert?

15. What is your biggest fear?

It has come to my attention lately that maybe I’m not coming across as grateful as I should be. And as much as I hate to admit it, I think there’s a grain of truth to that.

I find myself constantly putting ‘out there’ what I want, what I don’t have, what’s bumming me out. Well, boo-freakin’-hoo. No one wants to hear that even SOME of the time, let alone MOST of the time. And, quite frankly, it doesn’t paint a very accurate picture.

See, I have a lot to be grateful for; to be happy about. And while yes, I still covet a new camera and a MacBook, perhaps I wouldbe better served by cpncentrating on what I DO have instead. Because I really do have a lot. And there is much for me to be happy about.

For one thing, I have a completely precious baby girl that each and every day I’m thanking my lucky stars for.  Of course I simply adore all my children.  That should go without saying.  But experiencing Evie as my only daughter and my last child has been so much more awesome than I could have ever imagined.  I can’t believe how fast she’s growing up and at the same time, I can’t wait to go through the milestones with her.  She is a blessing to us and I never, EVER want to forget that.

Liam and Harry are such joys too.  I don’t get to spend as much time one on one with them as I’d like, since I’m on “Evie Duty” all the time (and she’s not the world’s best napper, alas).  But I do get to watch the boys interact with one another and it makes my heart sing (most of the time).  We got Rock Band for Christmas and then Rock Band 2 with a gift card after the holiday and not only has it been fun to play it together as a family (“The Overwhelming Disaster” is an AWESOME band name), but I’ve really enjoyed watching just how GOOD Harry is at playing both the guitar and drums on there.  The kid has mad timing, I tell ya!  And he’s been great about sharing the joy with Liam too.  He often sets up the drums and puts the game in “freestyle mode” so Liam can pound away.  I’ve gotta say, if watching Liam bash on the drums and laugh his fool head off in the process doesn’t bring a smile to your face, then you’re just an empty shell of a person.

We have a roof over our heads that is warm and comfortable and more than adequetely meets our needs as a family at this point in time.  We have two working vehicles that can easily transfer our family from Point A to Point B whenever we need to.  My husband has a very steady and secure job that doesn’t require a lot of long or over-time hours and pretty much ZERO travel.  I’m able to stay at home and watch my children grow from babies into people.  We are lucky enough to have some awesome technoloy at our fingertips: cable TV, a DVR, an iPhone, laptops, video game systems… What more could we ask for?

I really, really want to start focusing on the good things (as there are SO MANY of them) instead of the bad things.  Worrying about when I’ll get a MacBook (since my laptop is kaput and no one is beating down my door to give me any free laptops… if I have to pay for one, it’s gonna be a Mac) or focusing on how much I want a new camera to play with isn’t going to bring me ANY joy.  NONE.  Not at all.  Worrying about the things I don’t have is pointless.  No one has EVERYTHING.  No one SHOULD have everything.  Having everything does not make a person happy.

Health.  Family.  Security.  Safety.  Happiness.  That’s what counts.

I barely made it to midnight last night.  BARELY.  I swear, ya’ll, I almost fell asleep while singing in the band (Rock Band, to be precise).  I couldn’t even finish my champagne.   In fact, I didn’t finish ANY of my drinks last night.  The gin and tonic, the margarita… I didn’t even try to drink any Hornsby’s and that’s just about unheard of.

What the heck, yo?

Suffice it to say, I think I’m way out of shape.  Shoot, in years past we would have been whooping and hollering with the best of them when midnight rolled around.  I’m too young to feel this old.  I need to take my resolutions seriously this year.  Because I really don’t think I took them seriously last year.  Let’s take a look at what I said, shall we?

• I want to be better about handling conflicts.  I need to realize when I can’t “fix” it and learn when to step aside and ask for help.  It’s natural to want to do anything and everything to make it better but the problem is losing myself in the struggle.  I want to keep myself and my dignity.

  Uhm… NOPE.  But then, I haven’t had much opportunity for conflict as I have pretty much closeted myself way from the rest of humanity this last year.  I blame the bad experiences I had in 2007 for making me gun shy.  But more than that, I blame me for letting a couple bad experiences scare me so bad.

• I hope to rise to the challenge of having two small children.  That will be an entirely new experience for me and frankly, it’s something I haven’t considered much this far.  I’m hoping that our laid-back natures will rub off some on the kids but I’m sure it will be a challenge regardless.

  Hmm.  Well… I sorta had no choice but to do this one.  I mean, two kids was my destiny whether I tried or not.  And I think I’ve done a pretty decent job.  Sometimes, you have to rise to the challenge because there isn’t really any other option.

• I want to get some parts of my house cleaned out and cleaned up.  My room is a big one.  This would be essential should we end up getting the king sized bed that we’d like to have.  Other areas: the garage, Harry’s room.

  Riiiiight.  Yeah, a big fat NO here too.  Though, we did get the king sized bed in our room.  And portions of the garage were cleaned out.  And I have gone through my closet several times, tossing out old clothes.  But I don’t think I’m anywhere near finished.  There is a LOT more decluttering that needs to be done and the dent I was hoping for this last year didn’t really ever happen.

• We need to at least lay the groundwork for landscaping the backyard already.  This means putting in a sprinkler system.  Should our financial plan hold, we should be able to manage it this summer for sure.  It would be great to get a patio of sorts in.  If we could do the whole thing?  PERFECT.

  YEAH RIGHT.  If that backyard ever gets landscaped (you know, before the end of time), I’ll eat my hat.  So yeah… NO.  No sprinkler system.  No grass.  No patio.  NOTHING.  Not a damned thing.  Shoot, we even lost more chunks of fence that have remained “lost”.  OY.

• I’d like to get myself into shape after the baby is born.  Since I don’t plan on being pregnant again, it’s time to get serious about getting myself into shape.  This needs to be a big priority.

  I think it’s safe to say that this one was a big FAIL too.  No shape to be had over here.  Less shape, if that’s even possible, was achieved.  I let myself go really bad this year.

So we need some new resolutions, don’t you think?  And this year, I REALLY need to keep them.  I think it’s of the utmost importance that I keep some of these resolutions, if not all of them.

• Get myself into shape.  I don’t care if that means losing weight or whatever, but I want to be healthy.  This means keeping on top of my thyroid medication and bloodwork, getting up off the recliner now and then and perhaps even starting a walking program.  Perhaps, even start paying attention to what I’m eating more.  Though I think if I get more active, that will fall into place.  I need to take pride in myself and my body again.  Lately I just haven’t cared the way I should.
• Let go of the past and just move on with my life.  Don’t let crap that happened to me before get in the way of what I want to do and need to do from here on out.  I shouldn’t let a couple of bad experiences change and define me.  If I do, I’m letting the terrorists win.
• Live life simpler.  Get rid of junk that we don’t need.  Further embrace recycling, including “repurposing” things around the house such as toys and clothes and such.  I have a sewing machine now, that should help.  Make more things, buy less things.  Find joy in simpler things.
• Accomplish some minor goals with this house.  Maybe not the landscaping (though that would be nice), but at the very least take care of the fence and the busted windows and the fuxed up light fixture in the kitchen.  These are not ginormous tasks.  We need to get them taken care of.

There.  Those are reasonable resolutions, don’t you think?  I would have added on that I’d like to have a Macbook but a) that’s a little materialistic for such a reflective post as this and b) I’m totally getting one and there’s no point in setting a resolution for something that’s all but a done deal, right?  Right.

Do any of you have resolutions this year?  Did you keep the ones you made last year (if you made any, that is)?  Time to share with the class!

The end of the year is the perfect time to indulge in reflection and memes, don’t you think? I did this particular year-end meme last year too and I has been just as interesting to read last year’s answers as it has been to look back on this year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

I had a baby girl! I also learned how to knit. And I took up cloth diapering. Wow, this was a banner year, wasn’t it?

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

SNORT. I’ll be going over this more in a day or two but the long story short is: No. And yes.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Uh… me? I think that’s someone close to me. Plus lots of fabulous bloggy peoples gave birth too.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

Riiiiiight.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Money. That’d help. And sanity. That’d help, too.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

March 20, the day Evie was born. November 4, the day Obama was elected.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I had my third and final child.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Again, I was social failure. And a professional failure too, for the most part. I guess I should just be happy that I wasn’t a total failure as a parent, eh?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope. Thank goodness.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

iPhone. Even though I didn’t really buy it so much as WON it, but it is totally the most awesome thing in my life, materialistically speaking.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Anyone who is near and dear to me. Friends and family that have been there for me and helped me and picked me up and dusted me off. You all know who you are. Thank you.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

This would pretty much be the same people as last year. Suffice it to say, if you say you’re a friend, you should act like it.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Cloth diapers. Heh. And I’m supposing we’re saying money in a relative sort of way. Otherwise I’d have to say something totally boring like “the mortgage” or something. Yawn.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

My daughter. Meeting her and getting to know her has been so incredibly awesome. Also was very, very excited about the “Twilight” movie and my iPhone. Heh.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay, “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz. Awesome songs.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? SADDER. Sad to say.
b) thinner or fatter? THE SAME, which ain’t so good considering I was 5-6 months pregnant last year.
c) richer or poorer? THE SAME, though with less Christmas money to spend. Dangit.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Exercise. Definitely. I don’t know exactly what I need to do get more exercise since time is definitely short.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Again, I wish I had done less sitting around. SIGH.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

We stayed home and Kile’s parents came from Elko to spend it with us. That was really very nice, actually. It was nice to have someone here besides just us. And wow, Christmas with three kids is a lot different than Christmas with just two or one.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yep, with wee little Evie.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

“Lost” for sure. That show rocks my socks.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope. I try not to. Though I’m fairly annoyed at Dell for this shoddy laptop.

24. What was the best book you read?

Can I count the whole set of “Twilight” books in this one? Not literary genius, to be sure. But still totally awesome.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Hmm. Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” themed playlists really helped me find some interesting new music. And I rediscovered a love for Coldplay.

26. What did you want and get?

A baby girl. A trip to BlogHer ‘08. A new iPhone. Those are some pretty swell things!

27. What did you want and not get?

A new laptop. (Macbook!) A new camera. (come on, it doesn’t even have to be a DSLR!)

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

“Twilight”. That was awesome. “Ironman” was good too.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Sigh. I turned 33. I got my blood drawn. Kile made me dinner. I got jammies.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A new laptop? A new camera? (Do we sense a theme here?) A healthier outlook would have helped too.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Comfort is Key. Heh. A lot of people bag the whole pajama thing but come on. They’re COMFORTABLE. Sure, jeans look nice when out and about but around home I want to be comfortable.

32. What kept you sane?

Is this a trick question? Heh. My blog helped. Having this outlet helps more than you can know.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

EDWARD!! Come on, 2008 was totally The Year of Edward. And Neil Patrick Harris. Oh, and Owen Wilson. But that’s a gimme.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Can I get a “duh” here? The election, people!

35. Who did you miss?

Don’t know if I really missed anyone. I missed not seeing Zoot at BlogHer ‘08 though.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I didn’t meet a whole lot of people this year but I did meet Rhi and Loralee at BlogHer. That was pretty much awesome.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

Hmm. Not sure if I learned anything. I did get further lessons in “There is No Such Thing as Adult Friendships” though.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

“Viva la Vida” by Coldplay

If you want to join in the fun and do this quiz on your blog too, check out the details from All & Sundry for including your post in her “master list”. Sound fun? Just keep in mind that it takes a while to do it because this has taken me no shorter than three hours to get through. Of course, my laptop is continuing it’s sharp decline and that hasn’t helped matters. Let’s have a new laptop in 2009, mmkay?